How to outsource a business project in 2022?

Key Steps to follow for Successful Delivery of Outsourced Projects

Effective execution of projects is focused on making the engine of the delivery process as finely tuned as possible. A smooth project management process means you are operating at your best and providing the highest level of executive performance to your customers.

We will enlist some important steps in this writing that should be taken by an ideal outsourcing partner to tighten the delivery phase of project management.

Get the SLA ready

It is especially important when you work with a company from a different continent to work on your Service Level Agreement and set your criteria, time of meetings, reports, or SCRUM sprints.

Advice: Aim to schedule hours so no one in their free time would need to work. Doing so at the start would give you a simple plan to avoid competing with other essential business meetings.

Select a Contact Person

Appoint one person who will remain responsible for the contract. When any crucial problems reappear just because someone has not passed the data to the right person can jeopardize your project outcome. In the event of any issues that might arise on the way, do not forget to explicitly set the issue towards your contact so that the issue gets immediate attention. If you are attached to the processes you use in your company, you find them easy and effective; don’t hesitate to ask the contractor for it.

Set and implement KPI

At the very beginning, set KPI (Key Performance Indicators) and use them when determining the stage of your contractor’s realization of particular works. This will ensure that the services given are at their highest standard. A sweet and really important one! Note that the KPI can change over time: assign them a particular time range like a week, or a month, or a quarter, etc.

Concentrate on your main business

Since you have already visualized what your partnership will look like, the specifications for the project itself need to be planned. To avoid any confusion, you need to be very precise at that point. Reflect on that, and by saving time in the future, doing it correctly would pay you off. Your primary duty is to set the market requirements: who is the commodity to which it is presented, what need it should fulfill, what values it should bear, what modules will be paid, etc.

Talk to the contractor

You should pay special attention to their experience with similar projects when you select the organization you want to work with. You must make sure they are the right individuals to trust in the production of your product. And never ignore these areas! Your startup is not the first one that their experience will support.

They understand what the latest trends are, which innovations are to be used and which are to be thrown out of the window. Let them select the technology to be used to make sure that it will possibly help you to grow and that in the very near future it will not get obsolete.

Ensure constant on-boarding

In order to set up a project success, the start of a project is always a critical period. Yet, concentration on the finished product and the imminent deadlines are some areas that many businesses focus on ignoring this part. An ideal outsourcing partner, however, not only understands the value of the planning process but also has instruments that result in succession planning. 

Although there are several technical aspects that need to be taken care of at the beginning, there are also a few basic factors that you must imbibe in order to smoothen out the creases that may appear somewhere down the line.

Defining priorities specifically

The greatest achievement for an outsourcing firm is meeting the standards of the project’s main stakeholders. However, the end result can be far from successful if the goals are not clearly communicated to the project team. This phase entails clearly specifying the success criteria. This can be accomplished by answering three main questions-

• What is the project’s purpose?
• How is it measurable?
• What are the needs of the project and all its characteristics and components?

In order to resolve these problems, collaborating with all the relevant stakeholders would provide a way for successful project delivery.

Matching and maintenance of capital

In order to get the job done effectively, it is important to hire the right skillsets for obvious reasons. In this, careful matching of resources plays a crucial role. Matching resources can be achieved by developing a matrix of expertise that helps to define the skills and knowledge needed by this project and identify any holes and reduce them through training or outsourcing to experts or expanding the virtual staff team. Moreover, it is important to employ agile and oriented employee engagement practices to get the best quality performance from the capital.

Plan successful meetings for kick-off

They should be conducted in two steps – external and internal, to get the most out of kick-off meetings. In the first step, all relevant stakeholders within the company and the outsourcing partner should be included in the kickoff meeting. The outsourcing business should have an internal kick-off meeting with its internal stakeholders, including passive stakeholders such as recruiting, finance, and marketing departments, in the second level.

These meetings will ensure that everybody is in touch with the implementation of the project and also will provide the stakeholders with data to prepare for a comprehensive risk reduction exercise on any predictable uncertainty as well.

Select the best project management and monitoring software

Without the support of technology, it is virtually impossible to keep track of all the meetings, decisions, progress changes, sprints, achievements, projects, budgets and deadlines.

Furthermore, by ensuring extensive coordination between different project stakeholders using collaboration tools such as Slack, Skype, Hangout, Github, Chatter, Asana, etc., an agile outsourcing partner can further carry out the project delivery.

This reduces the time needed for the rapid resolution of technical issues that occur during execution. Plus, agile project management tools such as Jira, MS projects, Asana, Basecamp, etc. further allow teamwork and communication to be successful.

This can also be accomplished by a structured appraisal process with tools such as bi-weekly health checks for the project. The technical leadership team reviews each project on different criteria during these project health checks along with the Service Delivery Manager, who in turn does this analysis with project teams headed by the Project Manager.

This approach should be carried out on a bi-weekly basis in order to synchronize it with our Agile-sprint distribution system for two weeks. This helps those involved to be fully informed of the progress on each project and, should they anticipate any threats or obstacles may proactively arrive at mitigation or prevention strategies.

Enable seamless interaction

One of the strong foundations that are responsible for a project’s progress is smooth contact. The needs to create an efficient communication channel, particularly in circumstances where you and your team don’t share the same physical space, are extremely crucial.

A culture of open communication and creativity that is sustained by processes such as timesheets, blogs, and standard checklists is imbued by ideal outsourcing companies.

Assess the current infrastructure

If you look at current ‘as is’ business processes, the areas that will benefit most from outsourcing can be identified. As indicated by Gartner, this includes reviewing current internal and external capacities, operating costs, the efficiency of the service, and any existing supplier contracts. 

Collecting this data allows you and your team to see whether the current processes satisfy customer expectations and if updating of the infrastructure is needed. Can the current infrastructure sustain these upgrades if upgrades are required?

If not, the question then is, “How can we get the company ready to support any changes we choose to make to our processes?” One choice is to start small and then transition gradually, off-shoring just a few main roles and functions.

Tackling supervision of offshore teams

In making the move to outsourcing, experience and ability in handling outsourced processes are vital. Are you and the executives in your business prepared for the responsibility? A few things to take into consideration:

• How to recruit and employ the best individuals for your offshore team.
• Educating offshore workers on your organizational history.
• Establishing specific roles and KPIs.
• Contact for greater unity between onshore and offshore teams.

The advantages of off-shoring will provide your company with great results. It takes careful management and time commitment to achieve these, however.

Identify obstacles, threats, and benefits

The best thing you want for your company is outsourcing although it may cost your company time and cash. Still, the end result is outstanding.

Take a broader view of what could support or impede your step towards outsourcing. Blockers and problems that require solutions like labor regulations, government funding, technological developments, the current environment, and internal organizational guidelines should be taken care of. You should also find the most important benefits that outsourcing can bring to your organization during this research process.

Measuring processes and finding differences

It’s time for the actual data to be matched with the predicted data. It is possible to analyze measurements from current systems to make a case for and against outsourcing. Compare your current model data with your future model’s needs and expectations and, as Gartner suggests, “measure them as much as possible.” The results will help direct the strategies that your company should take to close any gaps.

Know the market for outsourcing

Familiarize yourself with the four different outsourcing models prior to working with a provider. Decide which fits the needs of your organization best and seek the assistance of a provider providing that model. Look at their customer track record, cost, and competitive outsourcing service bids with appropriate providers listed.

Hire a Virtual Assistant from Asia

Virtual assistant companies are quickly catching the attention of western countries. They are replacing employees as if you hire them you can get multitasking professionals capable of working on your project on an hourly basis. Besides, you don’t need to invest in infrastructure, training, and technology. If your project involves website building, data entry, business research, administrative services, etc then VAs could play a pivotal role whenever you would outsource a project to them.

Multiple scenarios management

Many smaller plans add to a single, comprehensive plan. In terms of structures, procedures, and execution, this phase in the outsourcing plan includes looking at every situation, and all the stuff that might go right or wrong. Sound out with your team about every single one of these issues.

Carry out risk analyses

First, assess the possible harms and the known risks that can make your organization face a lot of trouble. These can be legal dangers, dangers linked to tools and technology, economic variables in your off-shoring area, or even environmental issues. The question then will arise, once the risks are established as to how do you, your team, and the potential outsourcing provider, can turn these risks into opportunities?

Design the company strategy

With all the data gathered, by writing and presenting your business plan, it is time to explicitly state the case for outsourcing.

Document all your outcomes from each phase of the plan, ensuring that you provide all of the following:

• Sourcing Overall Expense (TCS)
• Every single scenario
• Workloads Inside
• The Financial Impact
• Objectives and Evolution
• Timeline suggested

Build your blueprint for action

The final step that comes is the making of the outline after the business plan is approved. This is where you set challenging implementation deadlines, allocate the budget, and determine the necessary deals and relationships required.

Put down the rules and set targets for outsourcing

Your whole managerial team will definitely make the decision to outsource. Each person can have different ideas about the reasons for outsourcing and how to do it, with a few cooks in the kitchen. By considering your ultimate objective, get everybody on the same page.

• Will you like to slash expenses?
• Can outsourcing help speed up the scaling process?
• In a global economy, is it about being competitive?
• Or to boost performance and the standard of service for consumers?

You’re more likely to save precious time and resources with the end goal clearly established.

Endnote

Not only can these measures reduce risks and boost project execution, but they also can help you save time, save money and raise sales. Insisting on insight into your outsourcing partner’s project delivery processes and searching for these steps will help you achieve your goals in a systematic manner.